When personal computers first started becoming popular (I cut my teeth on an IBM PC/XT 8086 with 640K of RAM, running DOS 3.31), I started to take an elitist attitude towards people owning computers. I was of the belief that there were too many people who were purchasing and using computers that had no business using computers because they didn’t have a rudimentary understanding of how it worked, or how to maintain it.
Given that the internet, today, is filled with a LOT of people who still don’t have a rudimentary grasp of how to keep their system secure and virus-free, I’m surprised that I do not still have that elitist attitude.
The World Wide Web, although not its original intent, is for the FREE exchange of information and ideas. To limit that in any way, shape, or form is criminal. Any gov’t who is seriously considering this approach might as well be North Korea or China. This is but one step in that direction, anyway. Why not go full-throttle? <sarcasm mode off>
As much as I dislike the fact that the average Internet user doesn’t know how to keep their system secure, I abhor the prospect of instituting this kind of mandate. It’s counter-everything that the Internet basically stands for (spammers and get-rich fanatics notwithstanding.)
V/r,
